Mendy Hu's path started somewhere else. Years were spent training distributors and touring dental trade shows for her family's business, before cooking filled the space that work left empty.
At Fortune Ivy, that becomes regional Chinese food built into a room of her own — tested first through pop-ups, then designed around a simple idea: a French bistro meeting a Cantonese diner, inside what used to be a hair and nail salon called Ivy Corner.
The food carries her family's layering: Shanghainese, Yunnanese from her father's side, Sichuanese and Xi'an, reworked into her own menu.
Nothing in the room is there by accident — family photographs, artwork carried home from Yunnan and her travels.
Each space holds its own mood.
"What it means to me is that we've done a good job of making them feel welcome, and giving them a really nice space to enjoy dinner."
